Customer Response_Question_Session_A0008Questions_VA FSC_36C10X22R0007_reviewbyCS_CLJ_7-13-2022.docx

A0005 Questions for Solicitation #:36C10X22R0007 VA Financial Services Center for Accounting Support Services

Attachment G B.2.E.1.a

8.1 & 8.6 2 of 8 and 7 of 8 Both the Conformed RFP from A0005 and Attachment G Sample TO PWS state that: “The Contractor shall provide to the FSC a CPMP no later than 10 business days after contract award…” However, Section 8.6 Deliverables of Attachment G states that the CPMP is “Due with submittal of RFP response”

Can the Government please confirm that the CPMP not due with RFP response and is due 10 days after contract award?

Government Response:

FSC requests CPMP provided after contract award.

Attachment G B.2.E.4 8.5 The Conformed RFP from A0005 and Attachment G Sample TO PWS list 2 separate sets of Key Personnel.

The Conformed RFP lists Senior Level Accountants and Program Managers as Key Personnel whereas Attachment G lists Senior Level Accountants and Business Analyst II as Key Personnel.

Section E.2.A on page 67 of 93 of the Conformed RFP states the following: “The proposal shall clearly demonstrate that Key Personnel meet the requirements set forth in the IDIQ PWS.” Further, page 75 of the conformed RFP states “The key personnel biographies will be evaluated to ensure the offeror’s proposed key personnel meet the minimum qualifications as described in the PWS, and the likelihood that the proposed individuals can successfully perform the tasks required outlined in the PWS”.”

Can the Government please confirm that proposed Key Personnel are required only for the IDIQ PWS and not the TO PWS?

Government Response: Key personnel required for IDIQ and TO PWS.

Can the Government please confirm we can add Intermediate Accountant to the list of LCATS in Column A?

Governments Response: Removed and replaced with Program Manager. See updated Attachment F

Can the Government confirm that the Program Manager will not be performing any of the Risk Mitigation tasks for the entire period of performance and that it is solely tied to CLIN 0005A Business Analyst II?

Governments Response: Confirmed Program Manager will not be performing risk mitigations tasks.

Government references a ‘Sample’ TO. If the sample task order is not being awarded as submitted, will offeror be bound by the submitted labor category rates on any subsequent task order against this IDIQ.

Governments Response Sample TO PWS are the actual task that will be used in task orders. The contractor will be bound to the hourly rates submitted in their Attachment D and F (LCATS). The hours reference in the sample Attachment D and F are labor hours used in the past and current contract to complete the requirement for the level of effort for those LCAT’s. The Government will use the hours listed in Colum D of Sample Price Schedule and sample level of effort to evaluate price in accordance with the solicitationwill be used for price evaluation purposes for The hourly rates submitted for base and all option years.

Government Response: Submission of RFP will close July, 20, 2022 at 10:00am ET.

Can the Government confirm if this is a typo and if it is to be removed?

Government Response: Typo is removed.

As offerors will not have the information necessary to complete NDAs, will VA remove the requirement to submit NDAs with the proposal and instead require that offerors furnish signed NDAs for Contractor Personnel at the Contract Award Kick-Off?

Government Response: Yes, NDA only needed after contract award. See updated conformed Solicitation Section E.

Section E.2.6 of the Conformed RFP states that “…Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) are due with submittals/responses to this RFP.” and directly conflicts with Section B.2.E.9.

Can the Government please provide and answer on how it intends to rectify this conflict?

Government Response: Yes, NDA only needed after contract award. See conformed solicitation Section E.

(EHRM) users (approximately 334 users), providing quarterly training on LTTE systems to help ensure hours are entered to the applicable activity for each council.

Can VA confirm there are existing training materials for LTTE training, and any resulting task order will be to refresh materials as needed and to execute training quarterly?

Government Response: Yes, training materials currently exist and in use.

Government Response: Yes

Government Response: Does not support payroll

Government Response: Government will not consider adding recommended LCATS

Government Response: Government will not consider adding recommended LCATS

Government Response: Government has 7 key staff onboard. Six Senior Accountants and one PM. Contractors are required to provide two key personnel which are Program Manager and Senior Accountant. The rest of the labor categories are not key personnel ( Junior Accountant, Business Analyst ).

Government Response: Sample Task Order PWS is to be used for contract award. T he sample task order is exactly the need for this requirement . Key personnel will be submitted with proposal.

How will Attach D and Attach F be evaluated. Will amounts be aggregated together for a single price factor or will they be evaluated separately? If evaluated separately, will attach D & F be weighted equally or is there an order of importance similar to the non-price factors?

Government Response: As stated in section E, The Government will evaluate pricing using proposal analysis techniques as described in FAR 15.404-1. Price will not be evaluated adjectivally or assigned a score. The Government shall evaluate the offeror’s proposed price based on information provided in both Attachments D and F. Price will be evaluated to determine whether or not it is considered fair and reasonable based on FAR 15.305(a)(1).

Government Response: No

Can the Government please clarify if the education requirement for the Program Manager is to have a degree in Education, or if this was a typo and the “E” in Education was not to be capitalized meaning the degree requirement for the Program Manager is a B.S or B.A. in any field?

Government Response: It is a typo. Should be “an education with a B.S. or B.A. in any related field” See new conformed Solicitation .

Government Response: View response 19

“15. RFP Page 15 provides Labor Category descriptions for Program Manager and Senior Level Accountant (2 of the 5 labor categories identified in the RFP). Can the government provide Labor Category descriptions for Junior Accountant, Intermediate Accountant, and Accounting Clerk so the offeror can properly price those Labor Categories?

Government Response: See section 4 of conformed RFP 36C10X22R0007. The Accounting Clerk definition is not included as standard personnel.”

As the Accounting Clerk is not included in the standard personnel and is not listed in attachments D or F, has the labor category been removed from the solicitation completely and should not be priced?

Government Response: Accounting Clerk is not one of the LCATs.

LCAT Price Spreadsheet

Governments Response: No, Intermediate Accountant has been removed and replaced with Program Manager to Attachment F. These categories are currently being used by the incumbent to meet the needs of the program office. The hours submitted in attachment F will be used to evaluate price and contractor will be bound to those rates for all task orders throughout each ordering period .

Government Response: No

Government Response: no, it’s part of your response to the technical volume

Government Response: PPQs will only be evaluated for those contracts/orders that do not have a CPARS report available in the system. As stated, there is no need for printouts if they are in the CPARS.

Government Response: NDA due after contract award not with RFP

Government Response: Yes

Government Response: CPMP due after contract award; not with RFP. Refer to the New conformed RFP Which states The Contractor shall provide to the FSC a CPMP no later than 10 business days after contract award.

The table on Page 66 of 93 in the RFP lists the items to be provided in Volume III as, “Price (including SF1449, amendments (SF 30s) & terms and conditions and/or assumptions.” However, the response to question # 18 in Q&A file states, “Government Response: See page 41. The Contractor’s representations and certifications, including those completed electronically via the System for Award Management (SAM), are incorporated by reference into the contract. No need to submit with proposal.” Can the government please confirm whether or not the representations and certifications need to be included within the offeror’s proposal?

Government Response: Refer FAR 52.204-13 SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT MAINTENANCE. If the contractor information is in SAMS representation and certification are completed there will be no need to include it within the offerors proposal as SAM are incorporated in the contract.

(2) ATTACHMENT D SAMPLE TO PRICE SCHEDULE SAMPLE TO LEVEL OF EFFORT.xlsx

(3) CONFROMED RFP 36C10X22R0007 for Amendment 0005.pdf ATTACHMENT A - WAGE DETERMINATION.pdf

• Intermediate Accountant , Attachment D cites the following: Program Manager, Senior Level Accountants, , Junior Accountant, and Business Analyst II.

Please clearly and consistently state what are the labor categories for this effort that we should price in each of the pricing spreadsheets.

Government Response: These are correct LCAT’s - Program Manager, Senior Level Accountant, Junior Accountant, and Business Analyst II.

ATTACHMENT A - WAGE DETERMINATION.pdf

Government Response: These are correct LCAT - Program Manager, Senior Accountant, Junior Accountant and Business Analyst II. The SCA establishes the minimum and locality wage that must be paid to LCAT’s if the LCATs are not listed it’s the responsibility of the contractor request waiver for the SCA labor categories that are not present for that locality area of performance.

ATTACHMENT A - WAGE DETERMINATION.pdf

We suggest that the Government should remove the SCA/WD references from this solicitation in order to ensure that the awardee clearly understands they are to provide skilled, experienced, and educated professional staff in support of this contract.

Government Response: the SCA Wage will remain in accordance with SCA and contractor should ensure that employers be paid at least minimum in accordance to SCA, specialize skilled professional staff should be paid accordingly to their skill set.

Government Response: those specific task or fixed price and will be invoiced monthly or accordingly. There is no LCAT For those tasks mentioned above.

Attachment F appears to be missing the Intermediate Account/Intermediate Level Account labor category. Please confirm that within Attachment F, bidders should populate a single fully burdened labor rate for each performance period for each of the following labor categories: Program Manager, Senior Level Accountant, Intermediate Accountant, Junior Accountant, and Business Analyst II.

Government Response: intermediate accountant has been removed from the LCATS and is not needed to meet the program office needs.

Government Response: No, the Government will not be excluding the response to task, this is the basis of your proposal submission therefore it will count. Please see the actual PWS in the IDIQ for your proposal. Sample G is the exact task that are required and will be used in subsequent task orders.

Government Response: not require if CPARS reports are already in the system.

37.

• Since you are looking at interface with health purchases system, do wee need to interface with Invoice Payment Processing System (IPPS) and Integrated Funds Control Point Activity, Accounting, and Procurement (IFCAP) too?

Government Response: Vendor will interface with those systems too.

38.

• Since we dealing with health care invoicing, do we need to report on RAT-STATs software too?

Government response: NO

Is the PM work considered FFP? It appears the customer wants pricing (FFP) for the deliverables provided by the PM, but not for the PM work (regular interface with customer, etc.)

Governments Response: Yes

Should the PM daily duties be recorded as a firm-fixed price?

Governments Response: Yes

If the PM is considered Key Personnel, why is there no row/line to price out his/her work? At a minimum, shouldn’t that work be captured as LH?

Governments Response: Yes, hours have been inserted in attachment D.

Please confirm that the PM does not require a degree in Education.

Governments Response: Confirm it is grammatically incorrect. See response 19

Are Business Analyst II (noted as Key Personnel in Attachment G) resumes required in the RFP response?

Governments Response: Resumes are required for Key Personnel Business Analyst is not key personnel only the Program Manager and Senior accountant. See IDIQ PWS, Sample PWS and new conformed Solicitation will be the basis of your proposal submission.

Is the Wage Grade information still pertinent to the Conformed SOL (since there appears to be no mention of Acct Clerks in the revised documents)?

Governments Response: See response to question 32. The SCA is mandatory for any contracts over $2, 500. 00 that requires services to be performed and it’s the expectation that contractor will pay their employees in accordance with SCA at the minimum. Professional Staff should be paid in accordance to their level of expertise.

Why is “0” listed as number of hours for the PM? Is there an expectation that the GOVT expects PM services to be free of charge?

Governments Response: The PM is a labor category changed from 0 hours to 1920 hours.

Why are “17280” hours listed for Senior Accountants? Is there an expectation that (9) Sr Acct’s are required to do this work?

Government response Yes

Please describe the customer motivation/intent behind the specific number values listed in the spreadsheet.

Governments Response: It is an estimated representative of the current number hours being performed under the incumbent. So at minimum you are to provide a quote for those hours for price evaluation purposes.

Are the number values listed representative of current workforce structure?

Government Response: It is an estimated representative.